The Locarno Film Festival will celebrate Italian-American actress, model, director and icon Isabella Rossellini with an Award of Excellence at its 79th edition this summer. Rossellini will be honored on the opening night of the festival, Wednesday, August 5, in Piazza Grande square in the picturesque Swiss city.
“An icon of contemporary film, television and fashion, whose name is almost synonymous with artistic audacity and technical excellence, Rossellini has long combined the artistic brilliance of Hollywood with the European spirit of artistic courage across an extraordinary, multi-faceted and decades-long career,” Locarno organizers stressed. “After initially making a major cultural impact as a model, Rossellini thrust herself into the collective imagination as the haunting Dorothy Valens in David Lynch’s masterpiece. Blue velvet (1986), a role that blends charm, raw vulnerability, and unforgettable intensity.
The festival added: “Born into cinematic royalty, Rossellini has left her distinctive mark on the history of cinema, forging a career marked by collaborations with filmmakers such as Robert Zemeckis, David O. Russell, Taylor Hackford, Marjane Satrapi, Guy Madden, the Taviani brothers, or, of course, most of all, David Lynch, providing brilliant performances that gave a powerful but elusive voice to their diverse visions. From those classics to recent triumphs like Alice Rohrwacher No chimera (2023) or Edward Berger concave (2024) – for which she received a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the 97th Academy Awards – Rossellini’s poised and electric screen presence remains an indelible and undeniable part of contemporary cinema.
In Locarno, Rossellini, who holds a master’s degree in animal behavior and conservation from Hunter College in New York, will appear in a public talk and present the “witty and self-directed” web series. Green porn (2008-2009), where she acted out animal mating rituals in costume “with deadpan comedic genius,” in addition to My father is 100 years old (Guy Madden, 2005), Seduce me (2010), Mamas (2013), Darwin, what? and Darwin, what? What? (Co-directed with Paul David Majid, both 2020), and excerpted from Animals distract me (2011).
“Isabella Rossellini is a true legend of contemporary cinema,” said Giona Nazzaro, Artistic Director of Locarno. “A unique talent who has always embraced the excitement of artistic risk, reinvention, and courageous creative transformation. Delightfully unconventional, and consistently brilliant in her characterizations and choices, Rossellini made unpredictability her ultimate artistic signature.”
He concluded: “She remains a visionary, an incomparable actress, and a self-deprecating genius, and her profound presence has left an indelible mark on contemporary cinema through her boundless talent and profound humanity.”
Locarno recently revealed that American director Darren Aronofsky will receive an honorary Cheetah Award this year.
Among the big names who have previously received the Locarno Award for Excellence are the likes of Susan Sarandon, John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe, Michel Piccoli, Anjelica Huston, Carmen Maura, Isabelle Huppert, Gael Garcia Bernal, Charlotte Rampling, Edward Norton, Bill Pullman, Ethan Hawke, Song Kang Ho, Letitia Casta, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Riz Ahmed, and Melanie. Laurent and Guillaume Canet, and last year Golshifteh Farahani.
The 79th Locarno Film Festival takes place from August 5 to 15.
